West Virginia Explorer West Virginia Explorer News
Browse

Communities

See our Communities Travel Guide

Communities in West Virginia offer residents a welcoming atmosphere, affordable cost of living, and a strong sense of connection to nature and neighbors alike. From charming small towns to vibrant cities like Charleston and Morgantown, West Virginia communities provide friendly neighborhoods, excellent schools, and access to outdoor recreation right at your doorstep. Residents enjoy a slower pace of life, surrounded by the state’s beautiful mountains, rivers, and forests, as well as rich local culture, historic sites, and community events that bring people together.

 

With safe streets, local businesses, and a true spirit of Appalachian hospitality, living in West Virginia communities means enjoying a high quality of life and a supportive, tight-knit environment where everyone feels at home. Be sure to visit our Communities Travel Guide for information about communities in West Virginia.

Sunlight filters through a forest canopy. WVU researchers are using artificial intelligence to help scientists understand how forests respond to environmental change in near real time. Photo by John Towner
Communities

Forests ‘breathe’ 24 hours a day; West Virginia scientists want to watch it happen

by Clyde Craig

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Across the Appalachians, forests that can appear timeless are constantly changing, exchanging carbon, water and energy with the atmosphere as trees and other vegetation respond to sunlight, rain, drought and changing weather. Scientists can measure that activity as often as 20 times every second. Understanding what all those measurements mean, however, can … Read more

A vehicle promoting Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, passes Independence Hall in Philadelphia as part of a 12-week tourism campaign connecting the spa town's 250th anniversary with the nation's semiquincentennial. Photo courtesy Travel Berkeley Springs.
Communities

Berkeley Springs takes 250th birthday campaign to Philadelphia as tourism grows

by David Sibray

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — A 24.5% income increase over eight consecutive quarters is helping a historic West Virginia spa town bring its 250th-anniversary tourism campaign to Philadelphia during the nation’s own 250th year. Travel Berkeley Springs has launched a $36,000 campaign that will put 10 wrapped rideshare vehicles on Philadelphia streets for 12 weeks, according … Read more

Crews replace aging water lines in Chapmanville, West Virginia, where the water system had been losing more than half its treated water through leaks. Photo courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Communities

West Virginia targets water crisis with $145 million investment

by Clyde Craig

BECKLEY, W.Va. — West Virginia will commit an additional $145 million to water and wastewater infrastructure over the coming year under a new state strategy that will give greater consideration to communities facing failing systems, boil-water orders, public health concerns and financial distress. Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced the investment Wednesday in Beckley as part of … Read more

West Virginia National Guard members navigate a partially destroyed road near Buckhannon following severe flash flooding in July 2026. More than seven inches of rain fell in parts of Upshur County, including 4.5 inches in just 37 minutes. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Edwin L. Wriston)
Communities

Why August can be especially dangerous for flash flooding in West Virginia

by Clyde Craig

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The destructive flooding that swept across West Virginia this month arrived amid conditions that have long made summer thunderstorms particularly dangerous in the Mountain State—intense rainfall, steep terrain, and communities concentrated in narrow river valleys. Slow-moving storms moved across West Virginia from Aug. 16 through Aug. 18, producing excessive rainfall that triggered flash … Read more

A new statewide multiple listing service is challenging the traditional way real estate listings are shared across West Virginia, arguing that today's digital market no longer requires brokers to rely exclusively on regional systems.
Communities

West Virginia brokers challenge state’s patchwork of real estate listing services

by David Sibray

BECKLEY, W.Va. — A longtime West Virginia real estate broker is challenging the way property listings are shared across the state, arguing that agents no longer need to belong to multiple regional organizations to market properties effectively in an increasingly digital industry. David Chinn is among the brokers behind All-West Virginia Multiple Listing Service, or … Read more

Students train at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry in Morgantown. WVU operates the state's only dental school and says more than 85% of dentists practicing in West Virginia are graduates of the school. (WVU Photo)
Communities

West Virginia’s only dental school expands as state faces shortage of dentists

by David Sibray

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University has opened the first phase of a major expansion of the state’s only dental school, as federal figures show nearly 720,000 West Virginians live in areas designated as having shortages of dental health professionals. The newly renovated and expanded clinics at the WVU Health Sciences Center in Morgantown are intended … Read more

Autumn color brightens a morning near Cabins in Grant County, West Virginia, as fall foliage spreads across the Potomac Highlands.
Communities

West Virginia releases 2026 fall foliage map as autumn countdown begins

by David Sibray

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia tourism officials have released the state’s 2026 fall foliage projection map, offering travelers an early look at when autumn color is expected to sweep across the Mountain State. The W.Va. Department of Tourism announced Wednesday that it will update its Live Leaf Map weekly throughout the fall, giving travelers current information … Read more

A sequence shows the moon passing through Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse. West Virginians will see an unusually deep partial lunar eclipse overnight Aug. 27–28, 2026. Photo courtesy Steve Bush
Communities

Nearly all the moon will go dark over West Virginia next week

by David Sibray

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginians will have a front-row seat to an unusually deep lunar eclipse next week, when Earth’s shadow covers nearly the entire full moon. The partial lunar eclipse will unfold overnight Thursday, Aug. 27, into Friday, Aug. 28, reaching its maximum at approximately 12:12 a.m. Friday. Though technically a partial eclipse, it will … Read more

A surviving version of West Virginia Explorer from Aug. 18, 2000, shows the website helping readers explore the Mountain State months before Wikipedia launched in January 2001.
Communities

Before Wikipedia, this website was helping people explore West Virginia

by Bianca Bosworth

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Before Wikipedia, WVExplorer.com helped people navigate the Mountain State. More than 25 years later, it reaches more than 100,000 monthly readers looking for places to visit, things to do, and communities to explore. “We bring businesses an audience that’s already interested in West Virginia,” said Lori Noble, the publication’s new advertising director. … Read more